“Alright alright, I get it.” Yui sidled up to Yuuki, turning toward him.“ Straighten your back out and don’t move.”
Anything else?
As Yuuki did as told, unsure of her intentions, Yui lowered her head, resting it against his shoulder. “Ooh, that’s genius.”
“R-Right?”
In reality, her head hung just slightly above his shoulder. The nape of her neck didn’t seem too happy about it, twitching.
Yuuki looked over to Mina, expecting a satisfied reaction, only to see her pointing her phone in their direction.
“Woah woah woah!” Yui jumped to her feet, straddling over to Mina as she quickly hid her phone behind her back. “You took it. Tell me I’m wrong!”
“No.”
“What do you think you’re doing, missy!”
“Taking a nice picture of the two love birds...”
“Yo-Your midterms are right around the corner! Go study!”
“Weeeeell, you see, the feng shui here is all out of whack.” Yui stood no chance; Mina didn’t take her seriously at all. Yuuki was about to ask if she had lied to him yesterday when she added, “I’ll listen to you, if you can beat me in a game of...”
“A game of what?”
Mina left Yui with a puzzled look on her face as she came back from her room carrying a game console. She plugged it into the TV, launching a game. “Bash Bros.” She said with a controller in hand, pointing at the TV.
Yui smirked. “Oh, you’re on.”
On screen was a player vs player character fighting game.
Mina once forced Yuuki into playing a game of Bash with her, in which she proceeded to completely dumpster him. Despite the cartoony appearance, it had quite a lot of mechanical depth.
“I wouldn’t if I were you. She’s good, real good.”
Yui ignored Yuuki’s warning, sitting down in front of the TV. “Do you seriously think I’d lose to some kiddy like her? Puh-lease.” She licked her lips, talking mad trash.
Yui grabbed a controller, getting a feel for the buttons, the joystick. She seemed ready and skilled.
“I didn’t know you were something of a gamer”
“Why do you think I do the cleaning, the laundry, the cooking? So mom doesn’t... so I can laze around in peace.” She declared.
You laze around at home all the time?
Oblivious to Yuuki’s judging gaze, Yui began selecting her character. “Don’t worry, I’ll go easy on you. At first.”
“Big words coming from a nooby like you.”
“Try not to cry when you inevitably lose, alright?”
The two smack-talked each other as the match finally began. They started out slow, observing one another, engaging in small clashes. Then they got more and more aggressive, jumping and flying all over the place. Their characters violently collided, Mina taking the lead.
“Not bad. Not bad at all.”
Yui maintained her composure, at first. As Mina’s onslaught continued, huh’s and what’s started flying out. Things were not looking good for her. Then came the tongue clicks followed by a resounding ’ah’ as the letters KO popped up across the screen.
“Let’s go, baby! What was that? You good? Feeling alright?”
“I-I’m just not feeling this character right now, okay? Wait till I bust out my main.” Yui switched characters, kicking off round two.
Yui didn’t look Mina’s way even once; her gaze was glued to the screen the entire time. Mina, on the other hand, showed remarkable concentration.
Even a layman like Yuuki could tell Yui was severely outclassed from their character movements, their finger dexterity.
“What was that?! You’re hacking! I know you are!”
“Cry more, nooby.”
Yet another blow out seemed to have finally made Yui snap. Mina, meanwhile, calmly taunted Yui with her character, really rubbing it in.
Come on, don’t rub salt in the wound. He looked over to Yui.
“You’re dead, kid.”
It’s working. It’s really working.
Her already mediocre gameplay only dropped in quality as Yui got served yet another swift loss.
Yui silently picked a different character, requesting an instant rematch. “Stay calm. You got this.” She muttered to herself in between deep breaths before the match started, only to immediately throw a fit once it did “That hit registered?! You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Yuuki felt as though he was watching a grade schooler... as though she lacked maturity for a high schooler. “Yui.”
“What?!”
“You’re being obnoxious.”
“Oh yeah?” She karate chopped the side of his shoulder. In the brief moment that she took her hand off the controller, the letters KO popped up on screen. Yui pointed at him. “Look what you did! Just had to pester me, didn’t you?”
“You’re blaming me?”
“Yuuki, switch.”
“Man, I’m terrible at this game. She’d wipe the floor with me.”
“No, switch with her.”
“What? Why?”
“Just do it!”
Yuuki and Mina switched as ordered. And so, their battle began. Yuuki, still fumbling around with the controls, was, of course, demolished in an instant.
“I won. I won!” She dropped her controller, triumphantly fist pumping with a great big smile on her face.
As she did, Yuuki and Mina, who watched the whole thing unfold, silently exchanged glances
Mina, with the gentlest eyes Yuuki had ever seen her make, gazed into Yui’s face from the side. “I’m sorry, Yui.”
“F-For what?” Yui played dumb as her face visibly twisted, her eyes darting from side to side.
“There, there. You did great.” Yuuki said, stroking her head.
Yui’s shoulders jumped, her face turning pink. She bit down on her lip, shooting Yuuki a frustrated glare. But then Mina, mimicking her brother, started consoling her in a similar fashion. Yui hung her head, falling into silence.